In the game of golf, it is common for the golf ball to land on the putting surface, called the “green”, with substantial force; sufficient to leave an indentation or ball mark. It is proper golf etiquette for players to repair any indentation made on the putting surface by the landing of their golf ball, but many either fail to do so or compound the problem through use of use of improper tools and/or techniques. Therefore, it is necessary for greens-keepers and their staff to professionally repair every green at regular intervals, such as once every day, because one of the most frustrating experiences in the game of golf is to have a putt diverted off line by a ball mark which has either been left un-repaired or improperly repaired. As a further complication, if the ball marks are neglected for more than 24 hours or repaired improperly, the damaged grass will die, leaving an unsightly brown spot and an uneven putting surface.
Specifically, ball marks occur as a result of a player attempting to land his or her ball on the green during play. Ball marks are basically indentations in the surface of a golf-course green putting area resulting from the ball landing on the golf-course green putting area with sufficient force to compress the turf, soil, and/or drainage material proximate the impact location. Additionally, especially associated with longer shots, a raised mound of turf, soil, and/or drainage material may be created by lateral impact forces.
There exist a number of conventional devices for fixing ball marks, including elaborate tools with radially extending blades pivotally mounted to a center hub and simultaneously activated through a linkage mechanism or tools with plurality of radially inwardly moving fingers actuated by a camming mechanism upon pressing or pushing. In operation, actuating blade tips and/or fingers for movement radially inwardly tend to dislodge the turf and soil from around the region of the ball mark, into the region of the ball mark, so as to level off the indentation in the golf green. Such devices tend to displace, cut or tear through the turf and soil repositioning a plurality of small areas of turf and soil inwardly toward the ball mark center. Moreover, these devices are unable to reposition the raised mound since their blade tips and/or fingertips uniformly reposition small areas of turf and soil around the edge of the ball mark.
Simpler hand-operated tools such as forks, tines and pronged devices or levers, including those rigidly attached by an expandable fastener to an interior surface of a handle end of a shaft of a golf club, have been utilized. In use, the prongs of the tool are inserted into the ground adjacent to a ball mark and at an angle such that the tips of the prongs are directed toward the center and beneath the ball mark. After inserted, the tool is tilted or pushed inwardly, rotating about the tips, to displace the compressed turf and soil toward the center of the indentation, thus filling the ball mark or indention. This process must be frequently repeated several times around the periphery of the indentation to adequately repair the mark and restore the location of the mark to its original condition. However, these simpler tools are rigid and problematically enable the operator to incorrectly pry the ball mark up by applying an upward force under the center of the ball mark by pressing down on a handle or shaft of the device.
Furthermore, a golfer or an attendant repairing indentations in a golf-course operating a hand tool such as a fork device is required to bend over or kneel down to the ground to repair a ball mark. Repeating this process continuously throughout the day is very tiring and the continuous action of bending to the ground is hard on the back and knees.
In view of the present invention, the background ball repair tools are deficient in many ways. Specifically, hand-operated tools are often misused, aggravating the damage to a putting surface and leading to damage to the grass in the location where repair is attempted. For example, the grass can die if the hand tool is inserted and the tip or prong is pried upward. From an external appearance the area may look repaired as the turf is level, but nonetheless the grass roots are often damaged or displaced from the soil and die, forcing the area to be re-sodded or reseeded.
In addition, sophisticated ball mark repair tools with pivoting blades and fingers with linkage mechanisms, springs and camming mechanism are heavy, complex and require maintenance, repair and eventually replacement during their work life, thereby adding to the cost and inconvenience of maintaining the golf-course.
Therefore, it is readily apparent that there is a recognizable need for a ball mark repair tool and method of use thereof that functions to enable a golfer to repair a ball mark indentation without bending over or squatting while performing the repair task and wherein the repair tool has no moving parts and further prevents or reduces misuse of the tool, such as when used by the golfer as a fulcrum to pry or apply an upward force on the underside of the ball mark and, thereby such ball mark repair tool is easy to use, inexpensive to manufacture and yet functions in a proper manner to quickly and correctly repair ball marks.